This invention relates, in general, to the restoration of network information systems, and in particular to, a system and method for real-time verification of spare capacity in a communications network to minimize failures during the implementation of restoration routes following a network outage.
Without limiting the scope of the present invention, the background is described in connection with telecommunication networks.
Telecommunication networks serve a vital role in both the public and private sectors. For example, businesses and individuals rely on these sophisticated networks to transport information, both voice and data, from one location to another. Of particular importance to both businesses and individuals is the reliability and cost of communicating via the telecommunications infrastructure. For example, if an outage occurs within a telecommunication network, vast amounts of information may be lost, coupled with the substantial costs associated therewith.
Network outages develop when a discontinuity occurs within the network architecture. A discontinuity within the network may result for reasons such as, a natural disaster, accidental or intentional human intervention, or faulty network components. Regardless of the cause of the network outage, however, the communication within the network must be restored as promptly as possible to avoid unnecessary and costly disruptions in communication.
Presently, restoration of communications service is implemented by selecting alternate routes within the network which are not effected by the outage. Typically, a restoration pre-plan is used. These pre-plans are developed from network topology information which is periodically gathered and stored. It has been found, however, that due to the rapid and continuous nature of changes to the architecture of networks, the data used to prepare the pre-plans and therefore the pre-plans themselves may be obsolete before they are implemented. When a pre-plan is unsuccessful, an audit of the network architecture is required to develop a new restoration plan. This ad-hoc approach to restoration of communications, however, has been found to take an unacceptably long period of time.
Therefore, a need has arisen for a reliable, efficient and cost effective method for restoring communication after a network outage occurs. A need has also arisen for a system and method of real-time verification of remote spares in a communications network. Further, a need has arisen for a system and method for dynamically generating restoration routes following an outage, based upon accurate spare capacity information.
The present invention disclosed herein comprises a system and method that reliably, efficiently and cost effectively restores communication within a network after a network outage has occurred. The system and method of the present invention provides real-time verification of spare capacity, thereby allowing for dynamic generation of restoration routes following an outage based upon accurate spare capacity information minimizing failed restoration routes.
The system and method of the present invention comprises a database comprising the configuration of switching elements within a network and a plurality of instructions resident on a memory device for operating a control computer. The database includes individual partitions corresponding to each of the switching elements which are updated in real-time such that each partition reflects the current configuration of the corresponding switching element within the network.
The plurality of instructions are resident on a memory device of a control computer. The system and method of the present invention generates a first set of alarms on the switching elements and receives these alarms from the switching elements. The system and method of the present invention also generates a first set of commands to clear the alarms from the switching elements. During this process, the system and method of the present invention distinguishes between alarms intentionally generated and other alarms generated within the network. As the alarms and the alarm clears are received, a database is generated, compared with and used to for updating the database containing the configuration of switching elements.
The system and method of the present invention may also generate additional sets of alarms on the switching elements and additional sets of commands to clear these alarms to further assure the accuracy of the process.